


Forest of Destiny

by AppleSoda



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Blue Lions Spoilers, Drabble Collection, F/F, F/M, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fairy Tale Style, play marianne's paralogue before doing this seriously lmfao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-03 18:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20457467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleSoda/pseuds/AppleSoda
Summary: A collection of retellings of Marianne's Paralogue, each taking a different Journey into the Woods with a different Marianne shipEntry 3- The Maiden and the Survivor





	1. The Maiden and the Lady

Once upon a time, a maiden sought out her destiny.

She packed her things carefully the evening she decided to do so, taking what she needed for a treacherous trip into the heart of the woods, and torches, too, for the way ahead was laden with fog. Following her, though, was a Lady of an esteemed house, quick to mold gold and silver but slow to labor otherwise.

The Lady had spent many happy days at the maiden’s side, accustomed to finding a new patsy to run her errands. But the maiden’s heart softened hers, and her kind words drew the Lady closer to her companion.

As much as the Lady denied it, her axe blade was sharp and her eye was keen. And she knew that the maiden needed her help. There was just no getting around it, after all.

The torchlight of the Lady and her companions illuminated fangs, claws, and scales of treacherous monsters that roamed the woods. Most annoying, of course, was the fact that facing down monsters would take work. A lot of work.

But everything was worth it, if it meant finding the maiden. As thick fog rolled into the woods, the Lady pressed on, undeterred by threats or trials that lay ahead.

At long last, the Lady reached the heart of the forest, where she saw the maiden face-to-face with a monster, drawing a blade that glimmered with magic across its surface. The beast before them was thrice the size of all the others that inhabited the dangerous pathways of the forest. With each step he took, the ground shook and the earth itself rattled. Its breath, noxious and pungent, caused even the most stalwart of the Lady’s companions to draw back.

Calling out to the one she held dearest, the Lady asked if the maiden required aid of her.

No, answered the maiden. Though she knew the Lady was true of heart, the trial was hers to face alone. The maiden could see, too, that the Lady was worn out, having cut through many beasts to find her. 

Whether she won or against the beast— or not— would change the course of her life. But what the maiden needed most, she said, was someone to believe in her.

That, decided the Lady, was easy enough. She pointed to herself, and knew that belief was something the maiden would always have. She shouldered her axe, and though her heart pounded in apprehension, she knew the maiden would triumph.

As the beast fell, the shine of the maiden’s eyes in victory made the gems she dealed in pale in comparison.She had known from the beginning that she would toil for however long it took to see the maiden again. As they embraced, the Lady knew that the fruits of labor were worth it, in the end.

In the years they passed together afterward, the Lady knew that such a moment was one would last longer than the most precious of metal or stones, and that nothing was so precious as knowing the maiden’s heart could find peace. The rest of their days were lively, and filled with hard-earned laughter and love. 


	2. The Maiden and the Scion

Once upon a time, a maiden sought to remake who she was. Carried by swiftest horse she could find, she fled into the woods to face her destiny.

On her heels, with soldiers and a fast steed of his own, was the Scion of a prideful Lord’s house.

All his life, the Scion was perfectly certain who he was meant to be,, and was determined that everything would fall into place. A perfect education, a perfect path to his title, and a perfect wife at his side would all be his, in due time. As long as he conducted himself accordingly, everything would go exactly as he had pictured.

The problem was that nothing ever really went exactly as he pictured. Not in his studies, not in his political ambitions, and not in his goals to find a perfect bride.

The Scion had never imagined running into someone quite like the maiden. Vexing and charming simultneously, the maiden possessed a beauty and a hidden spirit that the Scion was sure of, even if she hadn’t known what she could do just yet. For the first time, he had wanted something for someone else almost with as much determination as what he wanted for himself. And in the maiden, he saw someone else that clawed and chafed at who they were, and who was very far away from where she’d wanted to be. She was girl with a rabbit’s fast heart and a bird’s fight-or-flight instincts. Since childhood, the maiden was wary of others that sought her attentions, knowing that by their hand or even her own, they would meet a misfortunate end.

It was with her that the Scion let go of everything that weighed him down— familial obligations, his pompous speeches on what nobility had to be. Far simpler matters— sun-dappled days spent through errands in the stable filled most of their time together. The maiden had an interest in horses, and he had dreamed of charging forward at the forefront of a calvalry brigade ever since he was a boy. It would have been all too simple if the maiden had looked at him oddly or laughed, as the Scion was neither the strongest or fastest of the many aspirant knights that filled the academy’s halls.

Instead, the maiden looked wistfully, and started to wonder whether dreaming of something out of reach wasn’t impossible.

Within the misty forest before him, the Scion urged his horse onwards, knowing that both he and the horse at his side were both out of breath. At last, his small band of soldiers slowed, knowing that dangers lurked.But at last, he had found the maiden standing before him, startled but with a briefest of smiles flickering across her features. She was atop the horse she had raised, clad in her holy knight’s garb and facing down the heavily breathing jaws of a large demonic beast.

He took bade his steed forward, and exclaimed that someone as lovely as the maiden would hardly do to be facing down a horde of beasts alone. Though the soldiers looked sheepish, the Scion announced that there was to find her once more, he would ride through fields set aflame.

The maiden bit her lip, and asked if it was quite the right time to be having that sort of conversation.

At once, the Scion corrected himself, and straightened his posture on his horse. It was time, after all, to begin to learn how to serve others, and he intended to commit himself in only the best manner possible. That was all the maiden he loved deserved, and more.

Taking aim and taking heart, he lead his calvalry to face his destiny.


	3. The Maiden and the Survivor

Once upon a time, a maiden decided that she was worth more than the weight of her sorrows. In the darkest hours of the night, she stole away from home and set off into the woods, ready to confront her destiny that lay ahead.

The beast that loomed before her had never left at the heart of the forest. And yet, it had dwelled with her since she was very young, through the blood that sang through her veins. Even though it bared its fangs and flexed its sharp claws, its monstrous form paled in comparison with what had haunted her, and what she had carried every step of the way.

Following her, his footsteps was a Survivor of an unsepakable tragedy, whose mind had been clouded for far too long by it. For some years, the Survivor had kept his sadness isolated, masked behind clipped politeness and distance from the memory of the days that had taken everything away from him. He believed, as others did, in the goddess that they worshipped. Desperately, he had wished that with enough time and effort,his ghosts could be kept at bay. Still, they continued to swarm him, and the secrets that he found proved only that they could take over completely.Everything fell apart in swift succession, one step after the other.

The Survivor took up his lance, sharpened and deadlier than it ever had been, and swore to cut down whoever stood in his path—friend, foe, and every single person in between.

Even though his hair had grown into a wild tangle and his clothes were matted with blood and dirt, the maiden recognized the Survivor, even if few others did. Though others avoided him, the maiden remembered the Survivor’s kind words he had once shared with her, in the days that had seemed like ages that had passed since they first met.

Even in the days when he had worn amask of civility, he had known that there was more than regret and sorrows that made her the person she was. In those days, where there was no light for the maiden to look forward to, the Survivor had lit a match and showed her a possible way. And that, thought the maiden as she watched his crumpled form, was a gift that was worth more than anything she’d ever received.

With a wave of her hand, the maiden helped her friends mend the wounds of the Survivor, and looked upon the same ragtag team of friends and soldiers he had taken with her. She recognized the faces of those that, despite the years and the trials that had passed, had warmly welcomed both her and the Survivor into their ranks.

The Survivor’s soul was something that was recovered in time, but not without the goddess taking yet more tithes of blood. As his eyes cleared, the maiden looked upon him with all their friends, not with relief or surprise, but with the gentle acceptance that he had given her in the days where she knew herself to be nothing more than the offspring of a beast.

The Survivor’s demons were conquerable, she had learned. And so, she decided that it was time to see what demons she could conquer for herself. As his words returned to him, he became not the future king of a people that needed one, and not the weight of everything that had burdened him, but the boy patiently at her side when few others were.

The beast looked at the maiden, and then at the Survivor, who had gatheed troops and who held his lance with a steady arm and a steadier gaze. A slight smile came to his lips. For he had known a secret about the maiden who shared his blood.

The beast’s secret was simple, and he whispered it as he was struck down by the spear of the Survivor. He leaned close to the maiden and told her the last words he would ever say: that he had never been her demon, that what plagued her dwelled within her mind, and that she had already triumphed.

Once, the Survivor had said to the maiden that she needn’t smile if her heart did not reflect one. As they departed from the woods, he had earned the gift of seeing it once more, without sorrow or worry.He cherished that warm, fleeting moment, knowing just how precious it really was.


End file.
